This invention pertains to a pipe end preparation machine supportable from the pipe and wherein the axial and radial feed rate of a tool can be remotely controlled to provide the capability for a number of different machining operations on a pipe, such as internal or external threading, facing, turning and contouring or profiling.
In the repair and replacement of equipment associated with pipe lines, it is frequently necessary to cut the pipe and, thereafter, prepare the end of the pipe, with the pipe end prep operations involving one or more of facing, turning, profiling, threading, or beveling, Equipment has existed for cutting the pipe and performing other operations on the pipe, such as beveling the end preparatory to making a weld connection to the pipe end. Machines presently in existence do not have the capability of continuously controlled axial and radial feed rates for a tool enabling the machine to provide additional operations, such as threading or profiling, nor have such machines had the capability of remote control whereby the machine may be used at a location where an operator cannot be at the machine, such as in an atomic energy facility.